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Qalqilya Zoo, Palestine

Qalqilya, a former market town with a population of more than 45,000 is located in the northwest of the West Bank near the border with Israel. It is almost completely encircled by the eight metre high barrier wall that separates farmers from their land, families from each other and visitors from the town’s attraction – a small animal park.

The animal park opened in 1986 and is now the only municipal zoo in either the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. The zoo’s director, Dr Sami Khader, has struggled to keep it functioning, and its animals alive, during the region’s troubled past few years.